07.07.2026 01:00
French luxury fashion giant Louis Vuitton has won its logo battle against Chinese famous tea chain Molly Tea. A Chinese court ruled that the tea chain infringed copyright by imitating Louis Vuitton's globally renowned "four-leaf flower" design. The ruling imposed a fine of approximately 1.5 million dollars on the brand, banned the use of the logo, and mandated an official apology across six social media platforms.
French giant Louis Vuitton (LV), one of the world's most valuable luxury fashion brands, has won its 'logo war' against Chinese popular tea chain Molly Tea. The court ruled that the tea chain imitated the iconic emblem and imposed a record compensation of 1.5 million dollars.
'FOUR-LEAF CLOVER' ILLEGALLY COPIED
Louis Vuitton, a leader in global luxury consumption, has once again demonstrated its aggressive stance on protecting intellectual property rights, this time against a major tea chain in China. The Suzhou Intermediate People's Court in Jiangsu Province, China, ruled that Shenzhen-based Molly Tea illegally copied the registered 'four-leaf clover' monogram emblem of the world-renowned French brand. This copyright infringement verdict has caused a significant stir across China and in the international business community.
MILLION-DOLLAR FINE
With the binding decision announced by the court in the final days of June, Molly Tea and all its franchise branches have been permanently prohibited from using this logo in their commercial activities. The judicial process concluded with the tea chain ordered to pay a total of 10.3 million yuan (approximately 1.5 million dollars), including 10 million yuan in economic damages and 300,000 yuan in legal costs.
MANDATORY APOLOGY IN THE DIGITAL SPHERE
In addition to the compensation, the tea giant was required to publish a text formally apologizing to the public on China's six largest social media platforms, including Weibo, WeChat, RedNote (Xiaohongshu), and Douyin, as well as on its corporate website. Reports from China's National Intellectual Property Administration also indicated that the company's previous trademark applications featuring flower motifs were rejected, and only the name 'Molly Tea' could be registered.
TRIGGERED A WAVE OF NATIONALISM
This court ruling against the local producer turned into a digital battle on China's popular microblogging site Weibo. Tags related to the incident quickly surpassed the 400 million mark, with tens of thousands of Chinese users rallying behind the local brand.
Many users argued that the geometric patterns registered by Louis Vuitton are actually ancient motifs found in traditional Chinese architecture and textiles for centuries. A comment that received thousands of likes on Weibo summarized the backlash in the country with these words:
'This is really too much! The design in question is already part of our thousand-year-old native culture. The only problem is that our ancestors did not file a patent application suitable for the modern world in time. Western brands appropriate our culture and then commercially accuse us.'